Lasting Fruit

Lasting Fruit

Read: John 15:1-17

“I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit— fruit that will last.”

John 15:16

“You have nothing to do in life except to live in union with Christ.”

—Rufus Mosely

IN WORD It seems like an awesome responsibility and an impossible task. Jesus tells His disciples—and us—to go and bear lasting fruit. But how? The disciples fished, collected taxes, or pursued some other such profession, but that was all momentary sustenance, not permanent achievement. Even while following Jesus, they mostly observed His work, only occasionally participating in it. Nothing they did themselves was lasting. Likewise, the best of our works have proven futile over time. Nothing we’ve done endures, no matter how well intentioned or diligently carried out. The best we’ve been able to muster is temporary and flawed.

How, then, can Jesus reasonably leave us with this mission—to bear fruit that lasts? Doesn’t He know what we’re made of? It’s a ridiculously impossible assignment. We’re created from dust and corrupted in sin. How can we contribute to an eternal kingdom?

Jesus knows the impossibility of His command. In fact, our obedience to it depends on our understanding that it’s impossible. It’s one of His many counterintuitive messages. Just as we must die to live and serve to be great, we must know our own futility to finally be productive. We must get to the end of ourselves. He spells it out for us in verses 4 and 5: “No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. . . . If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

IN DEED We’re often tempted to try to work for God. Nothing we do with that approach will last. The strength of the flesh cannot produce the fruit of the Spirit. Only Jesus can do that. There is no way we can follow His commandments without letting Him live through us. As branches, our only task is to remain attached to the vine. It’s the vine that bears the fruit. Are you abiding in Him?